University of Waterloo Teaches More than 300 Students about Alternative Fuels

Earlier this year, the University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team (UWAFT) communications team visited Centennial Public School to teach more than 300 8th grade students about the importance of alternative fuels and green vehicle technologies. The team of volunteers led a series of interactive workshops, which covered topics such as alternative fuel, energy, and advanced vehicles.

The team’s first exercise was to divide the students into groups to become ‘experts’ on different types of alternative fuels. That gave students the opportunity to showcase their creativity and knowledge about alternative fuels to their classmates.

Students were given the opportunity to see UWAFT’s hybrid vehicle, and also had the chance to witness the magic of a 3D printer by taking a look at UWAFT’s 3D car model.

At the end of the day, students were asked to ‘tweet their thoughts’ with something they learned during the session. There were some amazing responses, including “I didn’t know that alternative fuels could be more than solar and wind #fuel #funwithfuel #science” and “I learned what big words mean such as geothermal and biodiesel which are alternative fuels.” The teachers also joined the conversation by thanking the team.

Getting an up-close look at UWAFT’s vehicle

A 7th grade student mentioned that it was not fair that the team focused on the 8th graders only, so the UWAFT team came back in later in the semester for another visit that was open to all grades!

One of the students gave a great summary of what they learned during the team’s visit, saying that, “Engineering is about solving problems and making the world a better place.” UWAFT was very proud to have had an impact on the youth of their local community!